Looking Back

[Pistol Pete 1]

Several things are painfully apparent with the most readily obvious to me is that the Rebel offense suffered it’s biggest loss in July when Barney Cotton needed to step away for the heart transplant. It was too late to replace him with anyone that could get the Rebel offense moving.

Next is we either don’t have a QB or we don’t have a QB coach or both are true. The last QB we had that made any strides forward during the year was Stanton and CTS couldn’t wait to put Armani back in when he returned to health. That may live on as the biggest mistake in his tenure as Stanton was on the verge of leading us to a bowl opportunity.

Next is the defense should have been as good all year long as it was against Hawaii. We had 3 legitimate defensive playmakers that are gonna be playing on Sundays next Year (McCoy, R Jackson & Javin White), not to mention we had several other solid players which should be more than enough to compete in the Mountain West.

Next is I have to give major props to the fan base for the peeps that continued to show up and support the comedic drama that was Rebel football this year.

Also Tony Sanchez is a stand up guy that has continued to sell the program to recruits even though the handwriting is on the wall. His post game interview on 1100 AM after the Hawaii game was pure class!

And lastly we will have a complete coaching staff transplant coming shortly with the possible exception of a defensive coach to maintain some cohesion to the current players and recruits. With this will come much speculation, hope & yes even some frustration with DRF. Bull will chime in with (Fire DRF) and we will all give our unsolicited advice as to who should or should not be hired and what kind of offense and defense we should employ but in the end Bull, Rebnwa & I will all be out at Spring Ball offering our incredibly insightful opinions & expert opinions for the upcoming season.

Go Rebels!

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Several things are painfully apparent with the most readily obvious to me is that the Rebel offense suffered it’s biggest loss in July when Barney Cotton needed to step away for the heart transplant. It was too late to replace him with anyone that could get the Rebel offense moving.

Next is we either don’t have a QB or we don’t have a QB coach or both are true. The last QB we had that made any strides forward during the year was Stanton and CTS couldn’t wait to put Armani back in when he returned to health. That may live on as the biggest mistake in his tenure as Stanton was on the verge of leading us to a bowl opportunity.

Next is the defense should have been as good all year long as it was against Hawaii. We had 3 legitimate defensive playmakers that are gonna be playing on Sundays next Year (McCoy, R Jackson & Javin White), not to mention we had several other solid players which should be more than enough to compete in the Mountain West.

Next is I have to give major props to the fan base for the peeps that continued to show up and support the comedic drama that was Rebel football this year.

Also Tony Sanchez is a stand up guy that has continued to sell the program to recruits even though the handwriting is on the wall. His post game interview on 1100 AM after the Hawaii game was pure class!

And lastly we will have a complete coaching staff transplant coming shortly with the possible exception of a defensive coach to maintain some cohesion to the current players and recruits. With this will come much speculation, hope & yes even some frustration DRF. Bull will chime in with (Fire DRF) and we will all give our unsolicited advice as to who should or should not be hired and what kind of offense and defense we should employ but in the end Bull, Rebnwa & I will all be out at Spring Ball offering our incredibly insightful opinions & expert opinions for the upcoming season.

Go Rebels!

Good write up Pete.

I don't want DRF fired, I'm being sarcastic...

She's not very popular on these boards.

I have no real opinion of her yet. We'll see how Otz hiring plays out and the football coaching search and hire goes.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Good write up Pete.

I don't want DRF fired, I'm being sarcastic...

She's not very popular on these boards.

I have no real opinion of her yet. We'll see how Otz hiring plays out and the football coaching search and hire goes.

I know you are withholding judgement on DRF but you will say it in jest.

And to those on the board that think she is a total incompetent, Do You Want DRF Making The Football Hire or should we wait for her to go P5 and suffer with CTS a little longer?

 

[Rebelious1]

What’s the issue with DRF? Seriously? She fired MM well ahead of his contract. She gave Tony another year to get it done and keep big booster satisfied. She’ll move on from Tony in 2 weeks without booster complaints. She’s trying to promote games. I’m not sure what else you could want except fire KO.

 

[Knight Rebel702]

What’s the issue with DRF? Seriously? She fired MM well ahead of his contract. She gave Tony another year to get it done and keep big booster satisfied. She’ll move on from Tony in 2 weeks without booster complaints. She’s trying to promote games. I’m not sure what else you could want except fire KO.

Have you not seen her hire in Basketball and their early results? Not good, I think she has reached her Peter Principle at UNLV as A.D. !!!

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

What’s the issue with DRF? Seriously? She fired MM well ahead of his contract. She gave Tony another year to get it done and keep big booster satisfied. She’ll move on from Tony in 2 weeks without booster complaints. She’s trying to promote games. I’m not sure what else you could want except fire KO.

Because nobody will ever be good enough.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

What’s the issue with DRF? Seriously? She fired MM well ahead of his contract. She gave Tony another year to get it done and keep big booster satisfied. She’ll move on from Tony in 2 weeks without booster complaints. She’s trying to promote games. I’m not sure what else you could want except fire KO.

I personally like DRF & think she is doing a good. As Bull stated there are many on these boards that don’t like or want her here. I was merely posing a question to the DRF haters.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Because nobody will ever be good enough.

Go ahead Bull, say it, say it, I am waiting!

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Go ahead Bull, say it, say it, I am waiting!

Fire DRF!

 

[bcvegaspt]

Armani not being a good passer was painfully obvious to me (and many college coaches) as I watched him directing the offense his freshman season. I won’t rehash his poor accuracy, his lack of reading past his first option, his desire to be the difference maker each snap despite having others who can contribute, his run first, second, and third approach to quarterbacking, etc. I simply won’t go there about those things so don’t ask me about them!

 

[Rebelious1]

Have you not seen her hire in Basketball and their early results? Not good, I think she has reached her Peter Principle at UNLV as A.D. !!!

Dude, Tark is not coming back. Get over it.

 

[BleedRebelRed90]

the Rebel offense suffered it’s biggest loss in July when Barney Cotton needed to step away for the heart transplant. It was too late to replace him with anyone that could get the Rebel offense moving.

Next is we either don’t have a QB or we don’t have a QB coach or both are true.

Next is the defense should have been as good all year long as it was against Hawaii. We had 3 legitimate defensive playmakers that are gonna be playing on Sundays next Year (McCoy, R Jackson & Javin White), not to mention we had several other solid players which should be more than enough to compete in the Mountain West.

The Cotton situation was made public in July, but in early October Sanchez said that Cotton had been on the transplant list for over five months, so presumably he had let the rest of the staff know by early May.

Ron O'Dell came to UNLV as QB coach directly from the same position at Bishop Gorman and has remained QB coach. There have also been opportunities to add a QB mentor (like when the NCAA increased the staff size by one, or when Justice went from OL coach to OL/OC) and there have been "potential mentors" available (Caleb Herring is already employed by the athletic department; Randall Cunningham is local and Sanchez has his number from coaching Randall's son). But despite results no change has been made.

I really like all three of those defensive guys you mention and will be hoping that even one of them will be "playing on Sundays" next year, but I realize that's tough to reach that level.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

The Cotton situation was made public in July, but in early October Sanchez said that Cotton had been on the transplant list for over five months, so presumably he had let the rest of the staff know by early May.

Ron O'Dell came to UNLV as QB coach directly from the same position at Bishop Gorman and has remained QB coach. There have also been opportunities to add a QB mentor (like when the NCAA increased the staff size by one, or when Justice went from OL coach to OL/OC) and there have been "potential mentors" available (Caleb Herring is already employed by the athletic department; Randall Cunningham is local and Sanchez has his number from coaching Randall's son). But despite results no change has been made.

I really like all three of those defensive guys you mention and will be hoping that even one of them will be "playing on Sundays" next year, but I realize that's tough to reach that level.

White may have a chance with his versatility.

Jackson, might get a look. I think we all know the gap between conferences like the SEC and MWC, but Jackson was a part time player at Florida and has probably been the most consistent guy on defense this season.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

And one more thing. We really missed Lexington Thomas this year. I like Charles Williams but he couldn’t replace all of the long TD runs that Lex would reel off.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

And one more thing. We really missed Lexington Thomas this year. I like Charles Williams but he couldn’t replace all of the long TD runs that Lex would reel off.

I think the lack of a threat from the QB on zone read stuff has hurt the run game.

What Rebs gained in big 'chunk yardage' plays passing they lost in the run game...

You could be right, maybe Lex breaks a few more big runs...He had a little more shake to his game...

 

[dcut03]

Armani not being a good passer was painfully obvious to me (and many college coaches) as I watched him directing the offense his freshman season. I won’t rehash his poor accuracy, his lack of reading past his first option, his desire to be the difference maker each snap despite having others who can contribute, his run first, second, and third approach to quarterbacking, etc. I simply won’t go there about those things so don’t ask me about them!

All true. But at least he was a freshman. What kills is that nothing has changed, actaully numbers worsened this year over his freshman year.
That's where the development seems to have suffered. And if he couldn't be developed then that should have been very much apparent long ago

 

[dcut03]

Lex was better at the one cut ago go. More shift in his game for sure.
But Chuck does have more power tends to fall forward and less likely to get caught for a loss.
Both are gonzo once they hit the second level.
I'm just disappointed in the line. Big seasoned guys. Deep too. But not a ton of big holes to run through and often struggle in pass pro. It doesn't help when we are easy to predict.

 

[BleedRebelRed90]

What kills is that nothing has changed, actaully numbers worsened this year over his freshman year.

After the first four games of his freshman year he did not complete more than 52% in any of the final 8 games of the season. Three of those early four games (Howard, Idaho, and SJSU) were 3 of his 4 career games over 190 yards. I don't know if after that defenses were able to prepare better for him or if those were just bad defenses (SJSU was 127 in scoring defense that season).

Since those first four games of his freshman year the only games over 52% completion were UNR (65%) last season and SUU (65%) and Northwestern (61.5%) this season.

 

[j. spilotro]

After the first four games of his freshman year he did not complete more than 52% in any of the final 8 games of the season. Three of those early four games (Howard, Idaho, and SJSU) were 3 of his 4 career games over 190 yards. I don't know if after that defenses were able to prepare better for him or if those were just bad defenses (SJSU was 127 in scoring defense that season).

Since those first four games of his freshman year the only games over 52% completion were UNR (65%) last season and SUU (65%) and Northwestern (61.5%) this season.

Should be a starting TE.

 

[rebel5280]

UNLV's staff has no imagination at all.. It's obvious that Armani is not a QB at this level let alone the next and if they were going to go with Oblad, AR should have been in the offense' plans as a "move" type TE and he should have also had a Taysom Hill type option package. Sometimes you have to work with what you have by being creative with the existing personnel!

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

UNLV's staff has no imagination at all.. It's obvious that Armani is not a QB at this level let alone the next and if they were going to go with Oblad, AR should have been in the plans as a "move" type TE and he should have had a Taysom Hill type option package. Sometimes you have to work with what you have by being creative with the existing personnel!

For him to play TE, you would be assuming that...

1) He can actually catch the ball consistently.
2) Wouldn't be a complete liability as a blocker in the run game.
3) He was willing to make the move, like Stanton was...

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

For him to play TE, you would be assuming that...

1) He can actually catch the ball consistently.
2) Wouldn't be a complete liability as a blocker in the run game.
3) He was willing to make the move, like Stanton was...

I beg to differ with your assessment incapsulated in #1. Catching the ball consistently is not a requirement for any of our receivers. I know you have been to the games and watched our receivers first hand so how you can put that requirement on Armani is beyond me.

 

[rebel5280]

Hey Bull and anyone else' opinion is welcomed as well but tell me something..

Do you think Armani is done at UNLV?

I really think the next staff should keep him and convince him to make the move to TE as pitch to keep him here and by doing so possibly get him to the next level. I and others here have mentioned this and I think this is his bext chance to get to the league as a draft pick.

Your thoughts..

 

[LocoRebel]

Next is we either don’t have a QB or we don’t have a QB coach or both are true. The last QB we had that made any strides forward during the year was Stanton and CTS couldn’t wait to put Armani back in when he returned to health. That may live on as the biggest mistake in his tenure as Stanton was on the verge of leading us to a bowl opportunity.

It was painfully obvious about 2 games into this season, but began surfacing (to me) last season that Sanchez tied his horse too tightly to Armani. If Armani succeeded, Sanchez would. If Armani failed, so too would Sanchez. Seemed like we all knew what direction it would go midway last season... and then in the cannon game when Armani looked very good, the narrative became "okay, we can see him getting better" ... I'd agree, we could really have used a more accomplished and prepared QB coach this season (or any season, given that he's the only guy left aside from Sanchez and Cormier from the year one staff).

Also Tony Sanchez is a stand up guy that has continued to sell the program to recruits even though the handwriting is on the wall. His post game interview on 1100 AM after the Hawaii game was pure class

Are these post games memorialized anywhere? I didn't have a chance to listen to it, but I'd really like to. Always try to make a point to listen and couldn't this week. I know lvsportsnetwork.com has the Wednesday night Sanchez show (and Otz Tuesday night show), I think they even have the game day preview show. Any idea about the post game conversations?

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Hey Bull and anyone else' opinion is welcomed as well but tell me something..

Do you think Armani is done at UNLV?

I really think the next staff should keep him and convince him to make the move to TE as pitch to keep him here and by doing so possibly get him to the next level. I and others here have mentioned this and I think this is his bext chance to get to the league as a draft pick.

Your thoughts..

If nobody transfers out next season and all recruits stay committed you have:

Rogers, Gilliam, Oblad, Grayson, Brumfield, Mumphrey.

That's lot of dudes at one position.

I think somebody bolts.

As for Armani, I think he views himself as a QB, and wants to strictly play QB. He's not completely devoid of talent. He has a strong arm, athleticism is there, size.. He struggles to maintain accuracy. With different coaching could he turn it around? I don't know.

We saw Caleb Herring get off to a slow start in his career and then have a great senior season.

A lot of variables...

Coaching staff?
Is Rogers angling for medical red shirt?
Is Gilliam out after this year?
Has Oblad shown enough?

Total cop out on my part here...

I have no idea...Really could go a lot of different ways...